Various sources of power supplies can be connected to one or more loads (wherein each load can comprise of one or more equipment), wherein one or more than one of the connected power sources can be used to supply power to the load. For example, in case of a wireless communication Base Station (BS), the BS can be connected to multiple power supplies such as the electricity grid, a generator, solar panels, a battery (which is directly connected to a Direct Current (DC) power plant) using a suitable module such as Line Control Unit (LCU), Auto Mains Failure (AMF) and so on. From the module, the power is given to the Direct Current (DC) Power Plant and then the load (the BS, in this example) is connected. The energy costs for each source is different, hence a major challenge faced is identification of the power source used for evaluating energy costs.
The conventional way of determining which power supply is supplying power to the load is through the help of Sensors. The sensors are connected at each power source pre-accumulation (as depicted in FIG. 1).
However, the current technology is prone to tampering as the sensors connected to particular power supplies could be interchanged or tampered with and hence there is low reliability. Also, sensor hardware is an additional expense.
Similarly, the load connected to the power supplies can be characterized by use of sensors connected prior to the connection of the load. Here also, the current technology is prone to tampering as the sensors connected to particular loads could be interchanged or tampered with and hence there is low reliability. Also, sensor hardware is an additional expense.